


Long We've Tossed On The Rolling Main

by deltatime



Category: Stargate SG-1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26382823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deltatime/pseuds/deltatime
Summary: It was bad enough, more than bad enough, that they were in this situation to start with, and Daniel had the audacity to hum.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Long We've Tossed On The Rolling Main

It was bad enough, more than bad enough, that they were in this situation to start with, and Daniel had the audacity to hum.

The people on this planet were just a few hundred years behind Earth in their technological advancement, but they were deeply friendly and (from what they said) hardy in the face of trouble. Hammond wanted allies, so allies Hammond would get.

As would be expected from their scientific situation, they had no engines of any kind. As would be expected from their lack of engines and the vast oceans on the planet, they were proficient sailors.

No amount of sailing proficiency could create wind where there was none, though. And so SG-1, esteemed negotiators, tacticians, soldiers, and scientists, found themselves rowing a boat alongside four natives.

They said they had an excess of fish, and if it wasn't brought to a different village, it would spoil, and would their new friends please help? It was only an hour's easy sail away. What they conveniently forgot to mention was that an hour's easy sail was three or four hours of rowing.

It wasn't backbreaking work, but it was monotonous. Jack ran out of things to talk about in less than an hour and resigned himself to grumpy tolerance. Teal'c had been absolutely silent the entire time, except when asked direct questions. The work seemed almost meditative for him. Sam had accepted her fate, and while the grimace on her face betrayed her feelings, she was rowing consistently without complaint.

And Daniel was _humming_.

On repeat! Not even a song Jack knew! This wasn't quite torture, but it was close. He gritted his teeth for about fifteen minutes before every note coming from behind him made him want to rip his hair out.

"What. Are you humming," Jack said through a clenched jaw.

"Oh! Well, many cultures, especially seafaring ones like the English, needed to coordinate work efforts consistently. Get everyone to pull a rope at the same time, things like that. They came up with work songs - sea shanties, for things like this," Daniel said. He couldn't hum while he was talking. Small miracles, Jack thought.

"The concept is to give everyone who can hear the song a rhythm to follow as they complete a task. Rowing, for us, but also shucking corn or mining coal," Daniel continued. "I don't know very many of them. This one, I learned in college. A wonder I remember it because everything else about that night is a blank."

Jack didn't want to ask, but if he kept Daniel talking, there would be no humming. "What's it called?"

" _Don't Forget Your Old Shipmates._ It-"

"That was in a movie I saw a few months ago!" Sam chimed in.

"Sounds just fascinating," Jack drawled.

Either Jack was too fed up with the work to make the sarcasm obvious, or Daniel was too fed up to care, because despite the fact that no one had done anything that resembled asking, Daniel started _singing_.

Surely Jack's life could get worse, but he was having trouble imagining how.

" _Safe and sound at home again, let the waters roar, Jack -_ "

"Hold on there, Danny, I am not participating in this cheer circle!"

"That's just how the song goes. Don't make it personal. _Long we've tossed..._ " Daniel continued.

Sam joined in. There it was - the previously-unimagined way Jack's life got worse. He scowled to himself, but no amount of grumbling seemed to dissuade half his team from their song. He took solace in the fact that surely Teal'c was not the singing type, even if he did know the song.

Daniel knew all the words, and Sam knew the chorus. Between the two of them, Jack had to admit, they were managing a pretty respectable rendition. Their cheerfulness was contagious, and by the third or fourth verse, Jack realized he was rowing in time with the song.

The captain of the boat, although he surely understood absolutely none of the words, was clapping along. As the four rowers synced up with each other and the song, the boat started moving steadily faster in the water.

Sam and Daniel concluded the last verse, and Daniel had a lively conversation with the captain.

"He says, uh, we'll get there sooner if we row together like we were. Usually, he just chants, but he likes the song better," Daniel translated.

"D'you know anything a little less me-centric?" Jack asked.

"I don't know any other traditional songs like that, but anything with a rhythm like that would work."

The group went silent in thought for half a minute while they all shuffled through all the songs they knew.

Teal'c came up with something first, a slow march that Jack didn't understand a single syllable of but that served the purpose.

They took turns after that; Sam knew a wealth of old-timey country music she said her dad made her listen to growing up. Daniel provided an eclectic variety of tunes; Jack doubted he really knew the words to all the songs, but since not a single goddamn one of them was in English, he couldn't prove it. Teal'c claimed that all the songs he contributed were different, but they all sounded exactly the same to Jack.

Jack passed on the first few rounds, sticking closely to his story that he wasn't having fun. When the boat was silent for a full minute, though, he started up _Sweet Caroline_.

Was it good? No, no one would describe it as anything better than a four out of ten. But everyone knew the words, and everyone was laughing by the end, and even Jack had to admit that it was good for morale.

The last two-thirds of the boat journey passed faster than the first third, even when the occupants were too out of breath to continue singing. The boat's captain was beaming ear-to-ear by the time they got to the dock at the other town.

"He's fascinated by the singing, and he thinks it'll be better than clapping and chanting when there's no wind," Daniel translated.

SG-1 helped unload the small boat's cargo and got themselves invited to dinner with the locals. By the time the meal was over, the captain declared it was too late to row back, so they would stay in the village. The people bent over backward to accommodate the four of them; Jack certainly appreciated their hospitality. Especially in contrast to some _other_ experiences, this planet seemed genuinely happy to have them. What a concept.


End file.
